Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has proposed the municipal People’s Committee allow a pilot electric motorbike rental programme in District 1.

The Border Guard Command of Vietnam’s northern Lao Cai province and Honghe county border police of China’s Yunnan province have agreed to set up a liaison officer mechanism and hotline between their equivalent units. 

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan and municipal leaders on December 19 visited the Headquarter of the HCM City Archdiocese and the Office of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam ahead of the Christmas 2017 and New Year 2018.

Ho Chi Minh City authorities will focus on dealing with traffic congestion at 10 traffic hot spots by the end of this year.

Organisations and individuals at the third Xuan noi đao xa (Spring in the Far Island) programme held in HCM City on December 17 donated more than VND15 billion (US$660,000) to support island residents and soldiers who are protecting the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea.

VOV.VN - Around 150 children affected with cleft lips and palates are to be provided with free check-ups and surgery in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from December 18-29 under a joint program between Operation Smile and MobiFone.

A new typhoon, Kaitak, entered the south of the East Sea on December 18 afternoon. As the 15th storm to hit the waters this year, it is forecast to get stronger, according to the National Centre for Hydrometeorological Forecasting.

The Vietnam Association of River Basin and Coast Protection plans to publish 300 photo books of the Son Tra Nature Reserve in the central city of Da Nang to raise funds for protecting its biodiversity.

VOV.VN - Over the last 55 years, Vietnam and Laos have constantly developed their special solidarity as a foundation for effective cooperation in all fields.

A scientific workshop was held in Hanoi on December 18 to celebrate 45 years of the victory of the Dien Bien Phu in the Air (December 1972).

 The Vietnam Airlines Corporation, its member, Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company (VAECO), and the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) have inked an agreement to launch a Bachelor Programme on Aeronautics and a Master Programme on International Air Transport Operation Management.

The national steering committee for search and gathering of martyr remains held a meeting on December 18 to review the implementation of a plan on searching and gathering martyr remains (also called Plan 1237) this year.

In May, Tran Thien An from the southern province of Bac Lieu was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping a 12-year-old he met via the internet.

Huynh Huu Canh and his cousin were digging up an iron object one day when a bomb left over from the war exploded, killing his cousin and leaving Canh, then in the fourth grade, blind.

Widespread water pollution nationwide has inflicted an estimated economic loss of VND11.6 trillion (US$510.7 million) in the last ten years and the situation is not getting better, an environmental expert says.

Vietnam has an increasing incidence of respiratory diseases, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) repeatedly issuing warnings that it is among the most air-polluted countries in the Asia-Pacific region, according to health experts.

Next year, Vietnam expects to produce and provide a sufficient supply of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease, an infectious and sometime fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle and pigs, as heard at a conference in Hanoi on December 18.

The Vietnam – Cambodia Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Cooperation Forum took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on December 18. 

The Board of Directors of the Asia Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$150 million loan to improve economic connectivity and living standards in four northeastern provinces of Vietnam via upgrading basic infrastructure and services. 

Cyber security will be difficult to maintain next year as hackers use smarter and more sophisticated technology to make attacks, Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, has said.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung has offered condolences to families of Vietnamese workers who were killed in a fire at the dormitory of a company in Taoyuan city of China’s Taiwan on December 14.

VOV.VN - The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting announced that tropical storm Kai-tak reached the East Sea at noon on December 18, becoming the 15th storm in the East Sea this year. 

A celebration to mark the 73rd anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army Day (December 22) was held on December 17 in Prague by the Vietnamese War Veterans Association in the Czech Republic.

VOV.VN -Hanoians are braving the cold weather as the temperature drops down to a chilly 10 degrees Celsius.

Unsustainable livelihoods, including the chopping down of protective forests for agricultural production and building houses near streams and rivers, have increased risks of natural disasters, officials admitted at a recent meeting.

VOV.VN - Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang has praised dynamics, creativity and enthusiasm of most Vietnamese students in Thailand, considering the Vietnamese student association a useful and practical playground for nearly 700 Vietnamese students in Thailand.

VOV.VN -At around 8:40 pm on December 17, a large fire broke out at a foam rubber production workshop located at 141 Phan Anh street, Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City, causing huge damage.

VOV.VN - The British Council IELTS Prize 2017/18 invites applications from students who plan to begin undergraduate or postgraduate studies locally or overseas in the 2018 academic year.   

Over-fishing is fast depleting Quang Ninh’s marine resources, but the northeastern province has not been able to tackle it effectively.

The first phase of the first waste treatment and organic fertilizer production complex of the central province of Binh Thuan was completed and put into operation on December 16.